We Don’t Sell Saddles Here

medium.com

30 Aug 2021 · Business

13 min read → 60 sec

A 2013 Slack memo says new products must translate their value into outcomes people already want, then execute nearly perfectly. It frames Slack as selling organizational transformation and a new market, not group chat software.

Slack must sell organizational transformation, not group chat features

Most teams do not yet know they want it

Slack solves a real problem but defines a new category

It must improve the product and the market at once

The best path to product-market fit is defining your own market and accelerating its growth

Winning requires a reward big enough to justify change and near-perfect execution

Product-market fit has two phases: test and iterate before fit, scale and optimize after

Slack was still in the first phase on July 31st, 2013, despite encouraging signs

Marketing fails if the site, signup, onboarding, and daily product experience do not support it

Innovation is measured by changed human behavior across a whole system

Slack changes how teams work

INDEX

Value claims like 75% less email create more demand than selling software features

Selling the larger outcome grows the market, as with saddles versus horseback riding

Centralized internal communication systems will gradually replace email over the next 10 to 20 years

Slack asks customers to abandon email habits and adopt public-by-default communication

Slack wants customers to become calmer, more productive, and more confident in finding information

When people do not yet know they want a product, small irritations can stop adoption

Every feature gets 0 points if it does not improve experience, clarify Slack, or teach about users

Slack needs customer development tools to watch behavior, analyze reactions, and improve continuously